It is sad to recall that indiscriminate hunting led to the Cheetah’s total disappearance from India. Now, we are compelled to try and bring them from foreign land. It is the result of our sheer insensitivity and government’s apathy towards wild animals. I am afraid that leopards too will meet with same fate as it is considered as a rare and iconic animal. Their number has drastically reduced in the last couple of years. It is indeed a sorry state of affairs that more number of Leopards are dying every year, thus reducing its population considerably. In the entire melee about global warming and IPCC’s glacier gate controversy, other ecological concerns are taking backseat. Protecting endangered species such as the Leopard is facing apathy from our Government and a Save Leopard campaign is the need of the hour. It is time to counter the poaching activity in any of the reserved forests. Anti-poaching measures are not up to the mark, as Government authorities only expect poachers to use regular poaching routes. Other reasons for their dwindling numbers are unnatural deaths due to falling in open wells. Forest patrolling needs to be intensified to curtail poaching. Constant GPS monitoring of the Leopard cubs till they are adults will also ensure they survive long.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
